-AG responds to previous defense allegation in a confidential document with a sealed envelope
-Defence object to the procedure of tendering
-Magistrate to decide whether to accept that document
By Shehan Chamika Silva
The defense earlier demanded by the amount to be released for the expenses of the company considering the fact that it was belonging to PTL and exited in the CBSL system prior to the bond auction on February 27, 2015.
However, after having a comprehensive observation perusing certain independent reports from the CBSL, the magistrate stated that the real amount belonged to PTL prior to this period was around 855 million and that it cannot be released for the purpose of company expenses as this RTGS account is not a general bank account as it was incorporated for a different purpose of the primary dealers.
In the meantime, at the onset of the inquiry, Senior Additional Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda appearing for the prosecution, tendered a further report with a sealed envelope which according to him contained the observations of the Attorney General regarding the allegation levelled against two senior officers of the AG's Department over threatening an Attorney at Law of WM Mendis & Company.
The SASG was of the view that it was for the consideration of the Court to peruse the observations of the AG firstly and decide whether that document could be made available and attached to the main B report.
At this point, defense counsel raised serious objection to the procedure in which this confidential document was tendered.
President's Counsel Wasantha Navaratne Bandara appearing for the rights of the lawyer who alleged to have been threatened by the two officers of the AG's Department was of the view that such tendering of document is not lawful as the Attorney General cannot go beyond and practice what is not stated in the Criminal Procedure Court over producing such documents.
Subsequently, the magistrate questioned the SASG on the questions raised by the defense as to whether it can be done lawfully.
SASG Kodagoda explained that there were many instances where the AG had submitted documents in a confidential manner before even the Supreme Court considering the nature of the containment of those documents. He was of the view that there was a practice in the court as such and the procedure would only demand from court to peruse them and decide by itself whether the document can be made available to the public.
However, considering the legal submissions made by the parties the Magistrate decided to further look into the legal aspect of the matter and deliver an order on it whether such confidential sealed document be accepted by the Court. Thereby, the sealed envelope was returned to the prosecution till the order on it be delivered.
On the earlier occasion, some serious allegations levelled against the Attorney General's Department and the Criminal Investigation Department by the defense counsel over forcefully recording statements from three individuals of WM Mendis & Company by force. The allegations were also against two senior officers of the Attorney General's Department who said have threatened a defense counsel based on those statements.
Meanwhile, Perpetual Treasuries Ltd owner Arjun Aloysius and its CEO Kasun Palisena were also ordered to be re-remanded till October the magistrate over the magisterial inquiry in which they were accused of abetting and conspiring with Arjuna Mahendran to misappropriate public funds worth Rs. 688 million during the Bond auction held on February 27, 2015.
Perpetual Treasuries Ltd defacto owner Arjun Aloysius, its CEO Kasun Palisena were also re-remanded by the Fort Magistrate till October 25 over the parallel magisterial inquiry conducted relating to the Bond scam on deleting phone call data from Perpetual Treasuries Ltd voice recording system and fabricating evidence to the Bond Commission.
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